The 2019 BMW Z4 Has Real Sports Car Cred

Every time BMW launches a new Z4, it tells the world it’s built a true sports car. And every time the world looks over to the Porsche Boxster and knows it hasn’t. The first one, the sharp-edged Bangle car from 2002-08 came closest, but the last E89-code Z4 veered dangerously into cruise-y SLK territory. If the 718 Boxster was a fancy technical fabric running vest, the E89 Z was a lemon pant suit. This one, we’re told, is different.

These two, really, because the new Z4 is twinned with the new Toyota Supra. Well, kinda twinned. To avoid cannibalization the Supra is a slick fastback coupe while the Z4 is a much less tight-looking roadster. But both were engineered by BMW and built from BMW components, from the engines to the console switchgear. Even the chassis tuning for both cars was done by BMW, albeit, in the case of the Supra, to a specification set out by Toyota.

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We drove the Supra prototype earlier this year and weren’t disappointed, other than when we learned it wouldn’t be on sale for eons. There’s a wait for the Z4, too. It lands in US showrooms in spring 2019. Unlike the Supra, we’ve at least been able to drive the range-topping Z4 M40i in finished, undisguised form.

Then again, maybe it looked better with the disguise on. You can make your own mind up about the BMW’s styling, but to it's a bit awkward around the nose and definitely too thick around the middle. Think Sean Connery in his bloated Diamonds are Forever comeback compared with the same guy’s lithe appearance in Dr. No almost a decade earlier. The trunk sits high, and not because it has to hide a coupe-cabrio folding hardtop. For this generation the Z4 reverts to a very neat cloth top that isolates the cabin very nearly as well as tin would, but folds almost silently into the trunk in 10 seconds without gobbling luggage space.

BMW

You feel less like you’re riding on the rear axle that you did in previous Z4s, but the interior space is good, as is the quality. Less so, the interior style. It’s instantly recognizable as a BMW, but that means it feels way too much like a BMW sedan. And nice as BMW sedans are, they’re rarely at the cutting edge of cool. The one stab at excitement is the new digital instrument binnacle, whose graphics aren’t the easiest to decipher and which looks strangely out of place in such a conservative dash. If you want Porsche-style sports car sexy, or, we’re afraid to say, a manual shifter sprouting from the console, you won’t find it here.

But don’t leave yet. It gets better. Much better, in the case of the M40i, which is an 'M Performance' model, not a full-blown M car. While the entry level Z4 30i uses a 255bhp turbo four, the M40i delivers the one thing the Porsche 718 can’t: a six-cylinder motor. And in payback for all those times in the 1970s and 1980s when we got stuck with engines putting out whole corals of ponies fewer than the same powertrains in Europe, this time ours make more.

BMW

A massive 50hp more, to be exact, for a US-spec total of 382hp because we (and, apparently, the planet) can live without the particulate filter required in Europe. There’s 369 lb ft of torque to go with that, and a six-cylinder soundtrack that’s maybe not as loud as you’d like, but feels rich and welcoming after a diet of cold robotic four-bangers. Zero to 60mph takes 4.4 seconds, making it 0.5 quicker than the $59k 300hp Boxster it’ll likely compete with on price (exact Z4 prices are still TBA) but 0.4 slower than a launch control-equipped Boxster S.

There’s more to the M40i than just the motor, though. It’s packaged with an e-diff and adaptive dampers (both options on the sDrive30i) to create something worthy of wearing that M badge one the back, something almost good enough to stop us pining too hard for the full-blown Z4M BMW says it isn’t going to build.

BMW

Sure, you could bitch that a 718 would be a touch more focused on track, that it communicates a little better through the wheel. But the Z4 still responds immediately to inputs, it keeps its body flat through turns, and even abused lap after lap at Portugal’s Estoril race circuit, the steel brakes didn’t wilt.

But it’s the balance, that feeling you get from a nicely set up front-engined rear drive car with an even weight distribution and enough torque to let you play with it, that’s the real kick. Instead of rolling onto its outside front tire in a mess of understeer it digs in and happily shifts the weight to the back with a lift, or a push, of the right pedal. It means you can abuse the heck out of it, giving little nudges of steering correction out of every corner, like you would have done in a classic 1960s European sports car. Or you would have done if they’d had enough power to get out of their own way. Or you can dial back the effort a little and make use of the excellent traction and thick wedge of torque to fire you to the next bend.

BMW

If you spent any time in the last Z4 you’ll thread this one down a great road and want to climb out at the end of it and check the trunk badge to be sure.

But you’ll also notice this new car is more refined, more usable than before. And certainly much easier to live with than the Porsche. It rides better and though the ZF eight-speeder can’t match a Porsche PDK for response, it’s no slouch.

Gut feel is the Boxster’s styling, driving position and pure focus would win it our cash. But make no mistake, the Z4 has real sports car credibility. And a six. Don’t forget the six. In fact, about the biggest reason we could give you for not loving the new Z4 is that we don’t much care for the way it looks and it won’t be available as a coupe. Except, of course, it will be. You just have to go to a Toyota dealer to get one.

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